In just under a week, the XXI Commonwealth Games will commence on the Gold Coast in Queensland. This two-week sporting event will provide a magnificent display of individual ability, dedication, resilience and grit.

Hours, days, months and years of training, rehabilitation and planning goes into preparing for a competition such as the Commonwealth Games. However, an aspect of elite training often overlooked, but equally important is the opportunity to rest from the physical and mental demands of sport, allowing athletes time to refresh the body and the mind to achieve optimum health and wellbeing.

This same process of rejuvenation is also important for our students. The term break provides the perfect opportunity for students and their parents to reflect on their learnings from Term 1 and reconnect together, as a family.

I encourage parents to utilise these holidays to check in with their daughters’ wellbeing and start up conversations that can sometimes be difficult to broach during the demands of academic and co-curricular schedules within the term.

Current data from the USA shows depressive symptoms in young girls is twice the rate of boys and “outwardly ‘exceptional’ girls are inwardly anxious and overwhelmed…fuelled by intense self-criticism and fear,” according to Rachel Simmons, an American author and educator at the American women’s university, Smith College.

“We have raised a generation of young women so focused on achieving that they avoid healthy risks, overthink setbacks, and suffer from impostor syndrome, believing they are frauds.” Simmons goes on to say many girls are withdrawing from “essential relationships that offer solace and support.”

Simmons believes practical advice from trusted adults is a key success factor for girls to embrace their own personal strengths. “When girls know why they matter inside, they become more resilient in the face of stress,” Simmons explains.

So how can parents help their daughters understand that ‘supergirl’ is a myth and ‘being enough’ is truly enough? Simmons provides the following advice:

• Tell your daughter about your mistakes and failures so she won’t make the mistake of trying to be perfect. Resilience can’t be learned by watching a parent excel at everything but by watching them handle setbacks.
• Model self-compassion when something goes wrong in your life so that she will learn to be less self-critical when she makes a mistake. People who are gentle on themselves when they make mistakes are less stressed, anxious and depressed. They are also happier and more highly motivated.
• Model body acceptance. Between 40% and 60% of primary school age girls monitor their weight. “Overthinking about the body,” writes Simmons, “is partly responsible for the gender disparity in depression.” Avoid negative comments about your daughter’s body or your own. Don’t talk about what you’ve eaten or how little you have exercised. Instead, talk to your daughter about being healthy, strong and agile.
• Empathise with your daughter and tell her that stress is normal.
• Keep your own anxiety in check so it doesn’t add to hers.
• Cultivate gratitude in your daughter for who she is and what she has right now.
• Tell your daughter about “imposter phenomenon” — that everyone feels like they are a fraud or don’t belong sometimes.
• When your daughter is upset, ask her whether she wants advice or just to vent — and if it’s to vent, then “sit on your hands and just listen!”
• And, finally, remind your daughter why she is enough as she is because, “when girls know why they matter inside, they become more resilient in the face of stress.”

Rowing

Congratulations to our two Senior Crews who finished the Rowing season with the title of fastest Victorian crews at the Australian Rowing Championships held in Sydney over the weekend. After the disappointment of the Head of the Schoolgirls Regatta in Geelong the previous weekend, the girls exhibited wonderful resilience and spirit, winning silver for our First VIIIs and fourth place for our Second VIIIs in the B Final. A full race report is available from our Head of Rowing here.

Thank you to all the parents and staff who have supported our Rowing girls over the course of the season and well done to all the girls who have shown tremendous teamwork and determination this season.

Exchanges and Study Tours

Safe travels to all our students and staff travelling across the world and within Australia during the term break with the Italy Study Tour, USA exchange, the United Kingdom exchange, the Great Alpine Walk for our Year 10 students and the Cross Country Running Camp.

Staffing

I wish to acknowledge all staff for their significant contribution to the wellbeing and academic care of our St Catherine’s students. Across the Term, a number of staff have generously given their time across the weekends to enable the girls to compete in sporting fixtures, namely Rowing and Swimming and to prepare for the forthcoming musical, Crazy For You. I take this opportunity to share my appreciation for their commitment and time to their professional lives.

I wish our Senior School, Health and Physical Education teacher and Cross Country Coach, Ms Susan Hobson, the very best in her role as the Manager of the Australian Track and Field Team at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast over the Easter break. Such an opportunity allows Susan (who herself is a two-time Olympian) to share her experience and expertise to the Australian athletes.

I also take this opportunity to wish Junior School Head of Learning Plus, Mrs Glenda Lingard the very best as she embarks on her well deserved Long Service Leave in Term 2. Learning Plus teacher, Mrs Chris Hogan will step into her role as the Acting Head of the Department and will be ably supported by returning teacher from Family Leave, Mrs Jessica Halpagoda.

Easter Holidays

Easter is a time to reflect upon all for which we can be grateful and all that we can do in joyous service of others – friends, families and our community. It is a time to reflect on our values –and how we must live by these values each, and every day. It is also a time to reflect on the true nature of giving – and I believe ‘true giving’ comes from the same place as your deepest happiness. They are curiously intertwined.

Whilst at Easter, we give eggs to our loved ones, a very special form of giving also takes place with small, personal acts of kindness. Very often it is not eggs, money or belongings people need, it is a kind word, a compliment or a smile.

I wish you a relaxing and enjoyable holiday, and trust you will take the opportunity to thank those around you for all they do.

Sources:

Enough As She Is: How to Help Girls Move Beyond Impossible Standards of Success to Live Healthy, Happy and Fulfilling Lives.